Flygirl
by Morse333
Summary: The Rise of the Empire changed the lives of many. But not every pilot in the Grand Army of the Republic was so willing to be a puppet of tyranny. And for a Chiss Ace like Zanna Gashon, the only real way way to live life is to be a free Flygirl of the galaxy.
1. A Flygirl

_I've never cared about the Republic, and I definitely had no love of the Empire it became. But I also never gave a rattacks ass about Separatists or the Rebel Alliance that came twenty years later. I didn't ever really declare for some flagless mercenaries, and I can't say I ever found myself loving life outside of the law._

_I don't do things for money, or glory, or world. I'm just a Chiss that had a simple goal in mind from the moment I was able to see the stars over my icy homeworld of Csilla. I wanted to get up there and see as many of them as I could._

_I've spent years at the controls, and have had a lot of jobs._

_I've been a Republic Ace, An Imperial traitor, A Pirate Enforcer, A Smuggler Runner, and these days they call me a Rebel Operative. _

_But I don't care what they call me. I don't care what they want from me. As long as they can keep me in the cockpit, on the controls, gripping the sticks, or at the helm I don't care what we're doing. _

_Because I'm Zanna Gashon_

_And I'm just a Flygirl_


	2. For Nothing

**Time on Coruscant – 2 Days**

**Time After Grievous Retreat – 3 Days**

The skies over Coruscant were lightly clouded, and shrouded in a fading golden light, which was being devoured by the darkness of night creeping in on the horizon. The dusk air left a calm wind blowing over the immense high rise buildings that stretched over the landscape, which had little affect on immense structures that stood before it.

Filling the air however was more then just clouds. Plumes of smoke rose from many buildings, where the still burning wreckage of fighters, tanks, cruisers, and all manner of war material resided as the Battle of Coruscant slowly came to a close.

The sound of air traffic was slowly being heard again. Though the loudest craft were the occasional thundering Cruiser, many speeders were in motion again. Whether they were assisting in the recovery efforts, transporting troops to the few remaining pockets of resistance, or just citizens attempting to pick up where they left off, the sound of normalcy slowly came back.

Adding to the sound of the few aerial vehicles were a trio of Alpha-3 Nimbus Class Fighters, commonly referred to as V-Wings. They bore the Red markings of Republic Fighters as they flew in formation over the cityscape at a cruising pace.

They were Flight 17 of the 287th Squadron, which was attached to the 592nd Carrier Battlegroup. The squadron was made up entirely of enlisted pilots, as were many in the Republic Navy. They were however given the nickname of Night Flyers, and not for endearing reasons.

The 287th Squadron had a habit since the start of the war of showing up very late to battles, since their commanders didn't like to expend their forces until risk was extremely low, generally believing that since Clones were bread to fight and die, they should be sent into the fray first. So if a battle would be viewed on a day long cycle, the 287th would only fly at night, hence they were given the name.

This battle had been no different. The Separatist forces had smashed into the system without warning with a huge force, probably the largest they'd ever deployed since the war began. The battle was long and hard, with immeasurable casualties on both sides. But as the Republic pulled in more and more reinforcements the Separatist fleet was slowly overwhelmed, and was forced to retreat.

The Separatist retreat occurred one day before the 287th Squadron had finally arrived. It had more to do with their distance from Coruscant at the time. So while the sheer majority of the fighting was over, there were still pockets of resistance all over the planet, and their job was to help with mopping it all up.

This suited Zanna Gashon just fine, as she flew with Flight 17.

At age twenty four, the Chiss woman was not very keen on dying for the Republic, especially since she had only been signed on to fight for a year. The nature of fighter combat was brutal enough, and knowing that the enemy fighters generally felt no fear was price enough to pay just given the taxing nature on ones own mind.

"You're a frelling moron, Jorkis." Zanna said into her ceiled helmet. "If they thought they was anything serious going on they wouldn't have called us in."

"I'm just saying, this battle was a little bigger then your average Mid Rim shavit skirmish." The voice Jorkis answered back in a civilized tone. The sound carried an undertone of electric whirring that came from the translation device that the Ithorian wore. "I mean this is the Republic Capitol after all."

Zanna shook her head. "Even still, their entire fleet was smashed to bits and bugged out. I heard a rumor that Grievous himself got himself killed when his flagship blew up."

"Man, I hope so." Came a younger voice of a boy named Reppi, who was their most recent attachment.

"Don't get your hopes too high, new kid." Jorkis replied. "The Clanker General escaped before, and in that chaos I wouldn't be surprised if he did it again.

"I know." Reppi replied. "I just want this war to be over."

"What do you care, Reppi?" Zanna asked. "You just got here."

"Yeah, Kid. You even got a kill yet?" Jorkis asked.

Reppi was a reinforcement for Flight 17. Their previous flight leader had gotten shot down two weeks earlier. Though he survived, he was badly wounded. Zanna was now the flight leader as she had a months worth of seniority over Jorkis. Reppi had just gotten out of flight school and was dropped off with them within the last ten days.

"No, but that doesn't mean I want the war to go on till I get one." Reppi responded sourly. "A lot of people have died in this war. I think it's gone on long enough. I just want to do what I can to finish it and get back to the way things were."

"Listen to that, Zanna." Jorkis laughed. "We got a dreamer."

"Don't have to tell me, Jorkis." Zanna answered, shaking her head again, this time with a smile. She then looked over to Reppi's V-Wing. "Look kid, this war's gonna go on as long as it has to. The best we can do is keep flying and not get shot down. And if you do get shot down, then make sure you…"

Zanna was suddenly cut off by the sound of fighter control coming in through their coms and she stopped immediately to hear.

"Flight 17, Flight 17. This is 287th Bird Watcher. Do you copy?" The fighter control officer said.

"We copy, Bird Watcher, over." Zanna called back.

"The word of the day is Chain Lightning. We've got a heavy resistance pocket that's giving our ground pounders some trouble. Their requesting air support and you're the closest thing we got. Sending coordinates to you now." Fighter Control stated.

"Roger that, Bird Watcher. Shifting course now." Zanna answered, moving the controls and having her V-Wing drift hard to the left. The other two followed suit immediately. "ETA in five minutes. Any details on the situation?"

"A lot of marching on a big bridge. You should be the only air though, so I wouldn't worry." Fighter Control elaborated.

"Good to know, Bird Watcher. We'll get back to you once the situation is under control. Flight 17 out." Zanna concluded.

"Big bridge, he says. I wonder if we have clearance to blow it?" Jorkis mused.

"We're the Republic, Jorkis." Reppi spat. "That's our bridge!"

"That's right, Jorkis, it is our bridge." Zanna grinned. "Of course can blow it."

Reppi audibly groaned amidst a shower of chuckles between Zanna and Jorkis.

The three fighters increased speed significantly as they raced to give support. The screams of their engines echoing off the infinite number of buildings that were below them.

As they moved closer to their target area, the amount of smoke that was in the air seemed to increase. And as the smoke increased, there too was the image of fire, which showed that they were getting closer to what remained of the battle on the ground.

"Buildings are sizzling." Jorkis commented. "We must be close."

"Lets see how close." Zanna replied, switching her com to an open channel. "This is Republic Air to Bridge fighters. Anyone receiving?"

Immediately there was a response from the very familiar voice of a Clone Trooper. "Receiving you Republic Air, this is Lieutenant CL-918, commanding forces on the bridge."

"Situation report, Lieutenant. We need one now." Zanna demanded rather nonchalantly.

"We caught a great big Sep army in a trap on the bridge. We were gonna blow it, but something went wrong in the detonation and the bridge didn't drop as planned." As the Lieutenant spoke, the sound of blaster fire and other voices identical to his own in a controlled panic were heard. "Now we're holding on the other side, but we're about to be over run!"

"Roger that, Lieutenant. We'll be on top of you in sixty seconds. Danger close, so take cover." Zanna mentioned.

"Copy that. Do whatever you have to do." The Lieutenant replied, and cut his com.

"Told you we could blow the bridge, New Kid." Jorkis giggled a strange mechanical giggle from his translator.

"Keep it tight, guys. Arm proton bombs." Zanna ordered.

As she spoke, she moved her fingers at her own console. Switching fire control to open up the small bomb bay doors underneath her craft, she prepared the small number of heavy weapons to drop the moment she triggered them.

"Coming up on the operating zone now." Zanna continued. "Bomb at will when over the target area."

"This'll be like playing Vralonn Ball." Jorkis commented, given the similarity to a common cantina game revolving around knocking over pegs by tossing a ball at them.

And then before the trio of V-Wings there appeared an immense bridge, which cascaded over a series of smaller buildings right below it. The bridge had no suspension and only tall railings at either side. It ran in between a number of much taller buildings, but was a dense as any of them were.

Unlike a normal day, rather then being full of landspeeders, the bridge was covered almost entirely with a massive army of droids that were steadily marching in the same direction that the fighters were heading.

Streaks of red and blue blaster fire were tossed at the head of the line, which ion mortars and missiles were launched back and forth.

From their high vantage point however, the battle seemed rather small to the three fighters. But that was about to change as they made their final approach.

Without a word all three prepared themselves. Things could get tight, and they'd likely be dealing with fire from the bridge the moment they flew passed. But that was their job, and it was nothing that their deflector shields would not be able to handle.

Zanna brought her fighter in low, and the others followed behind her. They dropped quickly, the screaming from their engines becoming that much louder as they did. They lined up into a perfectly tight triangle formation, their speeds syncing up to hold it.

They got closer and closer, and Zanna placed her finger on the fire control. And just as they moved over the first of the droids on the bridge, she pressed down and the V-Wing began to release four proton bombs at half second intervals.

THWAAAAAAAAAM THWAAAAAAAAAM THWAAAAAAAM THWAAAAAM

The bombs fell one by one and immediately exploded into a teal and red flame. The impact was not noticeable from the fighters altitude as they sped by, but all twelve bombs struck the bridge with an immense force, each one incinerating hundreds of droids as it did.

As the bombs went off the trio lifted up and began to bank right.

"Move around for another pass. Sweep up the stragglers." Zanna ordered.

The fighters split off in separate directions to move back to the bridge. And as they came around Zanna was able to assess the damage.

The bridge had huge chunks blown out of it. Where each of the bombs had landed there was a large crater, and heaps of scorched metal limbs. But there were many droids still attempting to march forward.

So Zanna took the lead, diving straight back down. She held her trigger down and her V-Wing began to fire out rapid blue bolts down upon the bridge.

As she did, she could see a separate set of streaks running just beside her own. It was fast and harsh and the droids were being devastated by the onslaught, clearly having no way to defend against such an unexpected barrage.

And as they moved past Zanna smiled, still holding down the trigger.

"Well that was easy." She said.

But no sooner did she get the words out, did her proximity alarms start going off.

WA WA WA WA WA WA

But Zanna didn't need the alarms to tell her, she could see what was coming.

A missile, with a hot purple aft-jet, spewing black smoke was racing towards her.

She had no more then a second to react. The missile was headed right in her direction. The alarms blared, and adrenaline raced through her body.

"Missile!" She roared, spinning the craft to the right.

"Duck!" Jorkis roared, dropping his craft into a dive.

The two made it just out of the way of the oncoming missile, narrowly avoiding its affects. But one of their number did not.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Came the sound of Reppi, his final words being reduced to a horrific cry of terror.

VWAM!

The sound of the explosion echoed throughout the metallic landscape, overshadowing the number of blaster shots that were still heard all around.

Zanna and Jorkis didn't even call out to see what had happened, they both knew. The New Kid, Reppi, had not been remotely fast enough to respond to the counter attack. Whether it was because his reflexes weren't honed enough, or he was just not paying attention would never be known. The only thing they knew was that his V-Wing was reduced to a burning piece of metal that was cascading downward toward the buildings below.

But Zanna did not have time to grieve, nor did she really want to. She just wanted to get out of there and so both she and Jorkis left at full speed.

As they drifted away the dusk light slowly was overtaken by night.

"Poor kid." Jorkis said with a sorrow in his tone.

"Yeah…" Zanna said the only thing she could think of in that moment.

There was a long pause between them and Jorkis spoke again.

"What was the rest of what you were gonna tell him?" Jorkis inquired.

"What? Rest of what?" Zanna asked.

"You said to make sure of something if you do get shot down, before the Bird Watcher came on." Jorkis clarified. "What was it?"

There was a momentary silence before Zanna finally answered.

"I was just gonna say… make sure it wasn't for nothing." Zanna concluded.

The two spent the duration of the flight back to their home carrier in a relative silence.


	3. In the Name of the Empire

_(Reviews and Comments Welcomed and Encouraged. Follow Me for More)_

**Time On Cato Neimoidia – 4 Days**

**Time After Declaration of the Empire – 1 Day**

"I'm still not sure I get it." Jorkis said, with an electronic whirring coming from the translation device he needed so that Zanna could understand him. "They didn't vote on it or anything?"

"That's what I heard." Zanna answered.

"But that doesn't make any sense. We're breaking the Separatists back here, and now were going with even more emergency powers?" Jorkis asked.

"I don't think these are emergency powers." Zanna replied. "If we're being reorganized into an Empire, then he would be the one on top."

"I'm not disputing that. But I heard that this was done as some kind of emergency thing." Jorkis elaborated.

"Well when the Jedi try to assassinate you, I guess you gotta take matters into your own hands." Zanna shrugged.

"I suppose. Still, even that's throwing me for a loop." Jorkis said, and then changed his tone almost immediately. "Range, fifty miles."

The two were seated in separate attack craft, BTL-B Y-Wings. The ships were among the many quickly purchased models that the Republic had acquired once the war broke out. They were purchased on a large bulk order, but slowed down in purchase over the course of the war. The two that Zanna and Jorkis flew could almost be considered relics by wartime standards. They had visible battle scarring, and chipped paint. But when one needed a bomber, the amount of ordinance they could drop was not to be disputed.

They soared with a light whirr over the magnificent mountains of Cato Neimoidia. All around them there was virtually nothing. Once in a while you could see birds, or flying lizards racing on the wind in flocks, but nothing other then clouds and green mountains.

By all accounts Cato Neimoida was a fairly beautiful place. But every inhabited inch had been turned into a warzone since the outer rim sieges began. And with the war winding down as a result of the death of Grievous and the ever more aggressive moves made by the former Republic, now turned Empire, it was only a matter of time before the Separatists would have to surrender.

"I don't really care much." Zanna admitted.

"Really? This seems kinda like some serious shavit?" Jorkis had a tone of concern.

"Exactly, Jorkis. It's shavit. It's all a big load of Shavit." Zanna pointed out.

"Ah, right." Jorkis nodded from his Y-Wing which flew on her wing several yards away. "Ever the interested one in the goings on of the galaxy."

"Who cares what it's called. It's all the same thing." Zanna shot back, keeping her hands firmly on the controls as she spoke.

"Maybe so, but Palpatine's saying there are big changes on the way." There was no denying that the Ithorian was far more concerned then his Chiss counterpart, but such banter was normal between them.

"Last time I checked, it still says "G-A-R" on the side of my ship." Zanna pointed towards the starboard side of her craft, where the initials of the _Grand Army of the Republic_ were still clearly painted on. "If they haven't even had time to repaint one of their proud warriors of the sky, enforcing this "New Order", do you really think anything's gonna change?"

Zanna exhaled. "Besides, its not like we can do anything about it anyway."

Jorkis gave a long sigh through the com. "Yeah, isn't that the truth."

As far as Zanna was concerned the Republic could call itself whatever it wanted. At the end of the day, Coruscant was in charge, and the only time she had ever been there was when she and their squadron was deployed on an emergency to defend the Capitol world from Grievous and his fleet. And they'd arrived after the battle was mostly over. Now they were supposedly worrying about big changes, and really there was nothing that could be done. The only thing they had to worry about was the mission at hand, and surviving till the wars end. And how long it could go on was anybody's guess.

"Range, Thirty Miles." Jorkis commented.

Zanna reached down to her com, and expanded the sensor range on her HUD. " Alright, time to call in and see what the grounders need." She then clicked the com range open. "This is Flight 17 Leader, of the 287th, responding to close air support call. Over"

Zanna and Jorkis, the only two people still part of Flight 17 at that exact moment as their latest wingman was stranded on base while his craft was being repaired, were responding to a call to provide close air support. This was their usual job, but the call had been specifically placed for heavy bombers. And as they were the closest ones with full payloads, they got the call.

"Flight 17, this is Colonel Muuzis commanding the 492nd Armored division."

The voice was clearly human, and not a clone. But that made little difference to Zanna, who listened while the Colon continued.

"We are on the city Bridge City, Cajinaan, and we need a target eliminated to proceed with our advance. Your assistance is appreciated. We're sending you the target now."

The transmission cut off, and Zanna replied quickly. "Roger that, ground. Our ETA is two minutes."

Suddenly Jorkis gave a statement of surprise. "Wo… what am I looking at here."

"What is it?" Zanna asked, but she looked down and began to understand exactly what he meant.

The target showed the layout of the city. As with most cities on Cato Neimoida, the city of Cajinaan was suspended in the air between two high mountain peaks. But unlike most it had numerous levels, and several other smaller bridges that were suspended from a massive natural arch that from millions of years of strange tectonic activity.

Their target, was the suspension of one of these smaller bridges. Though it was not nearly as massive as the immense city span bridge below it, it was hanging directly above it, and had hundreds of buildings built upon it. Destroying the suspension on the side would no doubt kill everyone on that bridge, as well as everyone beneath it when it fell.

"That's a little extreme isn't it?" Jorkis expressed his dislike of the idea.

Zanna too was a bit taken aback. "Yeah, I'm not so sure they have the right target, I'm calling in."

She reactivated her com. "Colonel, I'm reading the target as the suspension of one of those bridges. Is that correct, over?"

There was a slight pause, but then a clear response. "That is correct, Flight Leader."

Zanna looked over at Jorkis in the Y-Wing beside her, and saw him looking back. Though they were too far away to read each others expression, it was clear they were both thinking the same thing.

"Sir, I think this might be a bit extreme, and a poor target. Is there anything else you can designate that will be of more direct assistance?" Zanna requested.

"Negative, Flight Leader, this is the most effective target. Now take it out."

"City coming into visual range." Jorkis noted.

Before them on the horizon, the mountains that had previously been far in the distance gradually took the shape of a titanic rocky arch, and long suspended bridge hanging just below it.

"Uh, sir. My scans show no defenses on this bridge. What strategic value is it? Over."

Zanna was not lying. The scans on her ship were reading no anti-air, or defensive emplacements there of any kind. On the city below, there were, but not on the bridge that was above.

"There are insurgents all throughout that region, and I'm ordering you to clear it! Do you understand?" The Colonel was clearly frustrated that he was justifying himself to his air support. "Now in the name our new Empire, destroy that target, or I will have you brought up on charges!"

The transmission cut off, and Zanna had an immediate sinking feeling in her stomach. It wrenched at the thought of what she was being ordered to do.

She had been apart of dozens of missions that had been close air support, and there was no doubt some civilian casualties during them. Such was war. But this was clearly a deliberate attack on civilians. Zanna had known about the Republic using very aggressive tactics before, but this was excessive.

But the part that bothered her the most was the demand in the name of the Empire. She had not really been exposed to anyone referring to them as an Empire yet, and that being the first time was not leaving a good taste in her mouth.

"Range, Fifteen miles." Jorkis said quickly. "What are we doing Zanna?"

Zanna's mind raced. She was not sure she wanted to go through with the attack. But her orders were her orders. If she disobeyed them she could be in a great deal of trouble. On the other hand if she went through with them, she'd likely be killing thousands. The Y-Wing had more then enough ordinance to demolish the suspension on the left side of the bridge, which would level the entire thing.

"Zanna?" Jorkis repeated, but she was still silent. "Zanna, we're not actually gonna do this are we."

Zanna's mouth was agape for a moment, but then she spoke. "We have to."

"What!?" Jorkis spat in disbelief. "That's crazy. There's nothing there, you see it yourself."

"Our orders, are our orders." Zanna said, not cold, but as though they were backed against a wall.

"So we disobey this one. So what? It happens." Jorkis reasoned.

Zanna shook her head. "There's no way out of this one Jorkis. We don't respond and we'll be court marshaled for sure. And judging from how they handled the Jedi, I don't think the Empire likes traitors very much."

"Look I'm no traitor, Zanna, but frell this." The Ithorian swore. "I don't wanna kill all those people. But it's your call… I need to know what we're doing."

Zanna looked ahead, they were approaching visual range. They could easily see plumes of smoke, and within a minute they'd be on their target.

Then she paused for a second. She thought as deeply as she could until she found the answer. They still had to shoot.

"We follow our orders."

Zanna then punched in a new set of targets to Jorkis' HUD, just as he gave out a long sorrowful sigh.

He realized the change in the target and shook his head. "What's this?"

"The new target. Its only a few yards away, they'll never know the difference." Zanna stated.

"Alright! Now we're talking!" Jorkis said with some enthusiasm. "But won't they notice we messed up? And what if it accidentally does blow?"

"Jorkis, we have thirty seconds. There's no time. Arm all proton bombs, and blow that street." Zanna yelled. "We can deal with it later! But right now we need to save those people."

"Alright, alright. Targets selected." Jorkis replied.

The fifteen seconds came at a snails pace. Every tick on the battle clock felt like an hour. And slowly they could see laser blasts from the bridge below, as their target came clearly in view. Hundreds of buildings all packed together in close proximity. Zanna knew some people would die. But she also knew it was better that the few did, then the thousands that would be crushed under the bridge.

She clicked a button on her console, opening up the com to all channels.

"Fire!"

Suddenly proton bombs flew from below her Y-Wing and Jorkis. They flew out with bright white and blue light and collided with the large bridge below them. The fiery explosions they caused leveled several buildings and sent a wave of fire and shrapnel over the side and raining down to the larger city below.

But the bridge remained in tact. Though the light was bright, and the explosions fierce, the bridge remained standing.

Having kept her com open the entire time, knowing the Colonel could hear, Zanna spoke.

"Frell! Negative impact. I repeat, Negative impact!" She swore and put on a very good show. "Sorry, sir, these Y-Wing targeting arrays are absolute shavit. We just pounded nothing!"

The Colonel began to stammer a bit. "What? How could you…" He then growled frustrated. "Grrrrraaaaaaahhhhh. Never mind. RTB."

The communication then shut off one final time. And Zanna and Jorkis flew away.

"Quick thinking Zanna." Jorkis said. "Nice job."

Zanna just shrugged, and smiled. "Just following orders, in the name of the Empire."

Zanna was then suddenly consumed in a wash of dark feelings as she realized that this had been the first order, of what would no doubt be many orders to come, to be justified all as in the name of the Empire.


	4. Abandoned to the Fight

_(Reviews and Comments Welcomed and Encouraged. Follow Me for More)_

**Time in Lozaar System – 4 Days**

**Time After Declaration of the Empire – 5 Years 42 Days**

"I hate this thing!" Zanna spat, fighting the controls in front of her.

"What's the matter Lieutenant?" a muffled voice asked her through the com.

"Everything in these fighters are completely off." She smacked a lever. "The pitch controls don't respond at all, and then they kick in too hard. The acceleration ratios are all over the place, and of course, the targeting controls so cheap that I don't know how I'm supposed to shoot down anything.

"I like them, Lieutenant, I don't know why you hate them so much." A different voice called back.

"That's because you've never flown in anything other then a TIE Fighter, Semmis, you don't know any better."

Zanna continued to fight the controls that were around her in the brand new TIE/LN Starfighter that she was assigned to. They had taken away the V-Wing which had been flying for year, decommissioning it as being "Too Old to maintain." But from where she was sitting, the TIE fighter felt like the Empire Equivalent of a B1 Battledroid, mass produced quickly and virtually good for nothing.

It had one single advantage from what she could tell, and that was its speed. But she had such a hard time with the controls that it was wasted as she was just as likely to speed passed her target as she was to come to a dead stop.

The V-Wing was a perfect craft as far as she was concerned. Light, nimble, agile, and carrying a solid payload. This TIE fighter could hardly qualify as functional by Republic standards.

But Standards had completely fallen off since the Empire came in.

Though Zanna was no great supporter of the Empire, she had re-upped her contract in order to stay behind the sticks. Though being anything that wasn't human put some degree of bias against her, she was able to cope with it better then her old friend Jorvis had.

The poor Ithorian had not been able to handle the abuse that their new officers gave them, and as their contracts ended just months after the end of the Clone Wars, he was more then happy to leave to avoid it.

She still kept up with him, though he was getting harder to keep in contact with as he became a bit of a drifting spacer. Coupled with the communication lock downs of the Empire, it was hard to keep up with friends.

But Zanna did keep her nose clean in the Empire, doing little more then she was told, she was just happy they let her keep flying, even if it was in the trash ball that was a TIE Fighter.

"I just miss my old ship." Zanna said rolling her eyes.

"Careful, Lieutenant. Your age is showing." One of the other pilots said.

"What was that pilot!?" Zanna threatened.

"Nothing, sir." The pilot responded quickly.

The pilots were in a group of four, all in TIE fighters flying in a beautiful formation in the recent smuggling hub that was the Lozaar system. Their fleet had dropped in to get a handle on the situation and their flight was sent to patrol the area.

"Flight 51 to Exactor control. Flight 51 to Exactor control, this is Lieutenant Gashon. Nothing on our scopes out here. This sector is secure."

Zanna was usually happy to be flying, but the new fighter was leaving her agitated, and until she had gotten time to recalibrate its controls she wanted very little to do with it.

"Roger that Flight 51," a technicians voice came back. "Proceed to Sector 29-Alpha. We received reports of a distress signal there."

"Affirmative, Exactor Control. En Route." Zanna cut the com off.

She directed the flight to change course immediately.

"Who's sending a distress signal out here?" The pilot named Semmis asked. 

"Probably someone who ran out of gas." Another pilot responded.

"Bad neighborhood to do that in." Zanna replied.

"You're telling me." The third pilot replied he said with a scratchy cough. "I grew up on the border of Hutt Space. Everyone knows if you're taking off, you keep a full tank and be ready for quick repairs. Otherwise, you're as good as scrapped."

"If pirates want to scrap this fighter, that's fine by me." Zanna replied rolling her eyes.

"You know, Lieutenant." Answered Semmis. "You could always try to look at this with some optimism. At least they let keep flying. I thought that they moved most a the GARs off to desks or officers handle."

"I think a desk would fly a frell of a lot better then this thing." Zanna commented bitterly.

The four TIE Fighters flew in relative silence through the darkness of space. They passed by another small patrol cruiser for a moment on their way to the new sector. All around them there were stars and small clusters of space dust. Some random asteroids that floated through a fairly thin belt which passed through the heart of the system.

The Asteroids themselves tended be good shields for smugglers to hide behind. This was the story for most of the galaxy. No one was dumb enough to take the Empire on in a stand up fight, so they'd retreated to hiding and running to make their easy credits.

Zanna did not care about any of that though. To her, maintaining the Empire was really just her side job. In her mind, her only real life mission was to keep flying through the stars.

The silence between the pilots was fairly consistent for most of an hour as they made it to their destination. The new group was not quite as social as some had been in the past, but they got along well enough. Zanna found herself missing the old days off and on, but contented herself with the ability to just keep flying.

After an hour of traveling, the group came to designated sector, and all began to receive the distress signal.

"The signal's pretty feint." Said on of the pilots. "Not far though."

"No com calls on it either." Added another.

"Let's find it, and see what's happening." Zanna ordered.

The flight moved off towards the signal, and she called to their home cruiser, the Exactor.

"Flight 51 to Exactor Control. We've isolated the distress signal and are making our way to it now."

"Acknowledged Flight 51." The technician spoke again. "Report any and all findings."

The TIE fighters moved swiftly towards the location of the distress call, but there were no scans picking up any vessels in the area. As they moved through nothing came from the region, Only the feint distress signal, other then their own signal.

"Something seems off about this." Zanna said aloud.

"Maybe we're getting interference?" Semmis suggested.

"Enough for all of us and the Cruiser? I don't know about that." Zanna replied.

"Should we call it in?" A pilot asked.

"We're nearly on top of it. Just keep your eyes open." Ordered and they made their way there.

They soared through the darkness, nearing a small cluster of sizable space rocks.

"It's coming from right over there." The third pilot stated.

The TIE Fighters flew passed the large rocks and looked around, but visual scans turned up nothing.

"I'm not seeing anything." Semmis said.

Zanna knew something was wrong, so she gave a new order. "Widen scans, look for any electrical pulses."

They all did so, and their scans all identified the same signal. "Lieutenant, pulse beacon on one of the rocks."

"What's it doing out here?" Semmis asked.

Zanna was confused for only a moment, until she determined exactly what it had to be.

"All fighters, open scans too…" She was cut off by an incessant beeping on her console.

The others opened up their coms and she could hear the same echoing beeping from them all.

"Incoming contacts!" Semmis yelled.

"Evasive maneuvers!" Zanna ordered.

The TIE Fighters immediately broke off from each other, just in time to avoid a volley of laser fire.

FWWAAAAA FWAAAAAAAA FWAAAAAA

The sound of the lasers missing them was too close for comfort. But the reduced visibility made it hard for Zanna to see what had done it until she turned the whole craft to face them.

A set of older looking starfighters with three forward shifted wings came zooming towards them. They were outnumbered by at least three fighters, and they were already on the defensive.

"Orders Lieutenant!?" The Second pilot asked.

"Engage!" Zanna yelled, turning to attack them herself.

EHHHHRRRRR EHHHHRRRRR EHHHHRRR

The sound of her own laser blasts responding echoed in her cockpit, the green laser blasts zipping towards the fighters. She seemed to hit one, but did was still flying.

She opened up her com channel.

"Exactor Control! We are taking fire! I repeat! Flight 51 is taking fire!"

The Technician responded, as calm as he was before. "Roger that Flight 51. What's your situation?"

Zanna rolled the fighter in an attempt to dodge another volley of laser blasts.

"Distress signal was an ambush. We are taking fire from seven Star fighters."

The technician answered just as coolly. "What is their intention?"

Zanna could not believe she was having to answer that question.

"They're trying to kill us control! Request support immediately!"

There was a slight pause, and she continued to twist and roll, still having trouble with the fighter. A few laser blasts raced over her cockpit, but as it did, she lined up another fighter in her sights and fired.

Once again she struck the craft, but it was still flying.

"They're all over me!" Cried out Semmis.

"Negative, Flight 51." The technician replied. "All support is indisposed at the moment."

Zanna tried to get the TIE Fighter to do what she wanted, but it refused to cooperate. Every slight move did nothing, and every exertion beyond that did too much. She was not sure how they were going to handle that situation and needed a clear answer on their options.

"Got one!" yelled one of her pilots, just after she watched one of the enemy fighters obliterate.

"Request permission to retreat, Control!" Zanna asked, knowing that their luck would run out very soon.

There was another pause before the answer finally came back. "Command has denied your request, Flight 51. You are to continue to engage the enemy."

"What!?" Zanna spat. "This is insane. We can't stay here."

"Your orders are to remain, Lieutenant. Is that clear?"

Zanna stammered for a moment, watching one of her fighters get chased around.

"Acknowledged, Control."

She looked down at her controls, and determined that if the fighter had one advantage she was going to use it.

"Frell it." She said, and slammed the accelerator down to full speed.

The TIE Fighter launched like a missile, and proceeded to zoom around the rocks. She brought it behind the fighter that was being chased, and she opened up on the two pursing craft.

VWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAA

The first exploded, and the other broke away.

"Thanks for clearing em off…BAHHHHHHHH!"

The pilot thanking her was cut off mid sentence as a different fighter swooped around and obliterated him.

Without shields the TIE Fighters were vulnerable, extremely vulnerable. A pair of fighters came up behind Zanna, but she quickly outran them in the TIE Fighter.

The hair ball continued for several minutes. Each side getting close to taking down some of the others. Zanna wanted so badly to retreat, but she couldn't since the others were so tied up. She damaged yet another fighter, and one of their fighters damaged one of hers.

They managed to get another, but not before Semmis called out for help once more.

"Increase speed, Semmis!" Zanna ordered. "I'm coming"

"I can't… the controls are… everythings cracking up." Another laser blast struck across Semmis's fighter. "Hull breech!"

"Hold on, Semmis!" Zanna ordered clearing a fighter that was chasing him.

"I can't I'm…. Naaaaaaaaaaa!"

With a bright flash, the young Semmis was obliterated. This left only Zanna and the Third pilot to take on three more after the third pilot had snapped up another fighter.

Both Zanna and the third pilot had a laser blast on their ships. It was not looking good. They swerved and turned, and Zanna managed to get one more of the fighters.

They had managed to get the odds down to an honest two on two, but that did not help her. She still thought they should turn away, but she knew this brigands would attempt to shoot them in the back. No doubt the brigands had the same idea, so it now was a simple duel to the death, and the two TIE fighters were injured.

The fighters danced around each other. Second after second, minute after minute, each trying to get a clear advantage over the other. But there was none to be had. They chased and pursued and parried and countered as much as they could, but without any decisive shot.

Finally Zanna saw an opening, one where she could gain on one of the fighters. She closed in on it, and waited until she was right on top of it before she began to fire.

Thwaaaaaa Thwaaa Thwaaaaaa Thwaaaaaa

The shots poured from her fighter. The enemy tried to avoid it, but finally one connected and it spun into the large floating rock and exploded.

"Form up on my wing!" Zanna ordered, and the third pilot came beside her.

They were starting to chase after the final fighter together. The two should be more then enough to take down the aged ship which was fleeing to get away from them. It raced away as much as it could, but the pilot must have realized there was no escape.

So the fighter turned around and came at them for a final charge.

Zanna and her companion immediately opened fire on it, as the fighter made its final charge.

"Got it!" Zanna yelled.

"Me too!" the third pilot yelled.

The enemy fighter exploded into a fiery wreck and spun out.

The emergency lights screamed with a proximity alert however. The fighter was spinning right at them.

"Evade!" Zanna yelled, pealing left.

The Third Pilot broke off as well, but his fighter went right into the direction of the last of the enemy. The two fighters collided and both exploded in a spectacular ball of fire.

The battle was over, and Zanna was the only one still standing. This was terrifying to her. Though the ejector seats on TIE fighters did work, the nature of space combat left very little time to actually activate them, and her entire Flight was left as casualty of the fray.

She gave a report and returned back to the Exactor, feeling the losses of her flight.

When she arrived in the hanger the crews were already engaging in celebration and glorifying her victory… but she couldn't celebrate. All she could think about was the fact that she and her Flight were abandoned to fight to the death.


End file.
